New Delhi: In an another major development in the ongoing probe into the murder of DSP Zia-ul-Haq and two others, the CBI claimed to have recovered a blood-stained wooden rod and ammunition belt with live cartridges from various places of Pratapgarh district.

The blood-stained ammunition belt was recovered from a box concealed in a house of Suresh Yadav, one of the deceased, who was gunned down along with his brother and village pradhan Nanhe Yadav, official sources said.

The wooden rod, which too had blood stains on it, has been recovered from another area in the village at the instance of local police officials who were being questioned by the CBI in the case, the sources said.

CBI Director Ranjit Singh has asked Uttar Pradesh authorities for increasing security in the village as people were fearing for their lives and not cooperating in the probe. Four cases were registered by the CBI to probe the killing of DSP Haq and Yadav brothers.

Former MinisterRaghuraj Pratap Singhalias 'Raja Bhaiya' is one of the suspects in the case. He had to resign from the Akhilesh Yadav's government after his name cropped up in the case.

The CBI has sent the wooden rod and ammunition belt for forensic examination, the sources said. A CBI team has already questioned Station Officer of Manikpur, Inspector Pankaj Singh, where the murdered DSP had launched a drive against illegal sand mining and seized number of trucks and tractors.

The agency sleuths had also met the Chief Medical Officer of Pratapgarh and questioned a team of doctors who carried outpostmortem at the district hospital and the doctor of Community Health Centre at Kunda which had declared Nanhe Yadav dead, they said.

The CBI has registered four cases pertaining to three murders in Balipur village on March 2 and has booked Raghuraj Pratap Singh in one of the cases for murder.